JPG Live Sections

Create-A-Filter

Get ready JPG - for this theme we are taking you out of your photographic comfort zone!

For decades, photographers have altered the light, color, and focus of their photographs by building filters out of different combinations of materials. These days there are so many amazing filter effects in Photoshop that it's easy to forget that we can create innovative new effects ourselves.

How, you ask? Take the space between the subject and your camera lens, and make it your own! Do it with a homemade filter! Plastic, films, fabric, gels, nylon stockings, dried milk... there is a world of possible effects you can bring to your image. You can even use floppy disk or slide film to make infrared or color filters.

So brainstorm, create a filter, snap some photographs, and submit your favorite filtered shot to this theme! Make sure to write a caption about what you used to build your filter. If you make a number of filters or want to show the effect of a particular filter with a before-and-after sequence, then consider writing a how-to story.

Please, please, please no store bought filters for this theme! We're excited to see what you come up without the help of Photoshop or the fancy accessories you can purchase at a camera store!